Various absorbent materials have been used and manufactured in the past for the purpose of absorbing fluids in order that the fluids may be used, stored, transported, or discarded conveniently. Such articles exist in myriad forms; a short list would include wiping cloths, diapers, tampons, towels, surgical drapes, articles of clothing, cleaning implements, bandages and dressings, and so forth.
A frequent shortcoming of many such articles is the rate at which they are able to wick the fluid being absorbed away from the point at which such fluid initially contacts the article. This property is crucial to effective absorbency because wicking determines how rapidly and well the article can distribute a liquid among its absorbent elements. Even a material with adequate absorbent capacity cannot retain the maximum amount of fluid unless the fluid is distributed throughout the absorbent portions of the article before it can escape from the article.
Workers in the art have consistently attempted to reduce the amount of absorbent material in absorbent articles to a minimum effective level, in order to make absorbent articles having minimal bulk, weight, and raw material cost. This trend is especially evident in the case of disposable absorbent materials. Accordingly, those skilled in the art have needed to produce absorbent articles and structures which efficiently wick liquid to distribute it throughout the article and thus to optimize the use of absorbent material in the article.
Various types of layered structures have been devised in the quest to produce better absorbent materials, particularly disposable towels or wipes. A common example of such a structure is the ordinary two-layer paper towel. Perforated nonwoven materials have also been made for a considerable time and sold for use as disposable dishrags, towels, and so forth. An example of such a product is HANDI-WIPES, a product sold commercially by The Colgate-Palmolive Company, New York, N.Y.. However, it is desirable to improve such products as absorbent materials, for none of them are ideal.
Another property of a towel or wipe which has been found to be useful is that of limited conductivity of heat. Durable wipes, such as conventional bar swipes, are frequently used in the restaurant trade as makeshift potholders to handle hot pans and utensils safely. While prior art disposable wipes have been marketed for some time, and have been recognized to have the advantages of convenience and low capital cost, one factor which prevents them from capturing the durable wipes market is their unsuitability as potholders. Accordingly, it has been found that a nonwoven material which has low thermal conductivity will be more suitable as a wipe, particularly if it does not require more raw material and bulk in order to serve as an efficient insulator.
Finally, a third property which is desirable in a wipe, and which has been absent in prior art disposable wipes, is an opaque appearance. Durable wipes typically are opaque, (or at least more so than existing disposable wipes) so opacity is associated with quality, appropriate bulk, strength, and other desirable characteristics of a wipe.